{{Use British English|date=August 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}} {{Infobox government agency |agency_name = Ministry of Pensions |type = Department |logo_width = |logo_caption = |seal = Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government, 1901-1952).svg |seal_width = |seal_caption = |formed = 1916 |preceding1 = |preceding2 = |dissolved = 1953 |superseding = Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance |jurisdiction = United Kingdom |headquarters = |employees = |budget = |minister1_name = |minister1_pfo = |website = |footnotes = }}
The '''Ministry of Pensions''' was a British government ministry responsible for the administration and delivery of pensions. It was headed by the Minister of Pensions.
==History== In September 1916, a Cabinet Committee on Pensions recommended that the work of the War Office, Chelsea Hospital commissioners and Central Army Pensions Issue Office should be taken over by a Pensions Board. The Ministry of Pensions Act 1916 created a single Ministry of Pensions to administer naval and military war pensions to former members of the Armed Forces and their dependants, and to provide medical care for the disabled.<ref name="National Archives">{{cite web |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C227 |title=Records created or inherited by the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, and of related, predecessor and successor bodies |website=The National Archives |access-date=2 August 2024 }}</ref>
It was expanded rapidly during the opening months of the Second World War by secondment of civil servants from the Inland Revenue and other government departments. In 1940, most of the Ministry was moved to Cleveleys, north of Blackpool, Lancashire. This central office kept records of pensions granted, issued pension books and prepared cases for appeal tribunals.<ref name="National Archives" /> The Rossall School was taken over initially, but later several hundred employees worked in prefabricated one-storey office buildings assembled on a site that had been part of the Holt's farm in the Norcross section of Carleton. The Ministry moved to buildings on Millbank in London in 1949.
In 1953, the functions of the Ministry of Pensions were merged with those of the Ministry of National Insurance into a new Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance.<ref name="National Archives" />
==Ministers== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+ Ministers of Pensions (1916–1953) |- style="height:1em" ! colspan=3 | Minister ! colspan=2 | Term of office ! Political party !Cabinet |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | George Nicoll Barnes | 10 December 1916 | 17 August 1917 | {{Party shading/Labour}} | Labour | rowspan="4" {{Party shading/Coalition (UK)}} | Lloyd George |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | John Hodge | 17 August 1917 | 10 January 1919 | {{Party shading/Labour}} | Labour |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | Laming Worthington-Evans | 10 January 1919 | 2 April 1920 | {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} | Conservative |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | Ian Macpherson | 2 April 1920 | 19 October 1922 | {{Party shading/Liberal (UK)}} | Liberal |- style="height:1em" ! rowspan=2 style="background-color:{{Party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" | | rowspan=2 | 60px | rowspan=2 | George Tryon | rowspan=2 | 31 October 1922 | rowspan=2 | 22 January 1924 | rowspan=2 {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} | Conservative | {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} |Law |- | {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} |Baldwin I |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | Frederick Roberts | 23 January 1924 | 3 November 1924 | {{Party shading/Labour}} | Labour | {{Party shading/Labour}} |MacDonald I |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | George Tryon | 11 November 1924 | 4 June 1929 | {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} | Conservative | {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} |Baldwin II |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | Frederick Roberts | 7 June 1929 | 24 August 1931 |{{Party shading/Labour}} | Labour | {{Party shading/Labour}} |MacDonald II |- style="height:1em" ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:{{Party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" | | rowspan="2" | 60px | rowspan="2" | George Tryon | rowspan="2" | 3 September 1931 | rowspan="2" | 18 June 1935 | rowspan="2" {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} | Conservative | {{Party shading/Coalition (UK)}} | National I |- | {{Party shading/Coalition (UK)}} | National II |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | Robert Hudson | 18 June 1935 | 30 July 1936 | {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} | Conservative | rowspan="2" {{Party shading/Coalition (UK)}} | National III |- style="height:1em" ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:{{Party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" | | rowspan="2" | 60px | rowspan="2" | Herwald Ramsbotham | rowspan="2" | 30 July 1936 | rowspan="2" | 7 June 1939 | rowspan="2" {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} | Conservative |- style="height:1em" | {{Party shading/Coalition (UK)}} | National IV |- style="height:1em" ! rowspan="3" style="background-color:{{Party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" | | rowspan="3" | 60px | rowspan="3" | Walter Womersley | rowspan="3" | 7 June 1939 | rowspan="3" | 26 July 1945 | rowspan="3" {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} | Conservative | {{Party shading/Coalition (UK)}} | Chamberlain War |- style="height:1em" | {{Party shading/Coalition (UK)}} | Churchill War |- | {{Party shading/Coalition (UK)}} | Churchill Caretaker |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | Wilfred Paling | 3 August 1945 | 17 April 1947 | {{Party shading/Labour}} | Labour | rowspan="5" {{Party shading/Labour}} |Attlee |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | | | John Burns Hynd | 17 April 1947 | 7 October 1947 | {{Party shading/Labour}} | Labour |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | George Buchanan | 7 October 1947 | 2 July 1948 | {{Party shading/Labour}} | Labour |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | Hilary Marquand | 2 July 1948 | 17 January 1951 | {{Party shading/Labour}} | Labour |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | George Isaacs | 17 January 1951 | 26 October 1951 | {{Party shading/Labour}} | Labour |- style="height:1em" ! style="background-color:{{Party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" | | 60px | Derick Heathcoat-Amory | 5 November 1951 | 3 September 1953 | {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} | Conservative | {{Party shading/Conservative (UK)}} |Churchill III |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
Pensions Category:Government ministries established in 1916 Category:1916 establishments in the United Kingdom Category:1953 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Category:Government agencies disestablished in 1953